"There is only one power that determines the course of history . . . the power of ideas." — Ayn Rand

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

After Big Gas Tax Hike, Will New Jersey Finally End the Ban on Self-Serve Gas?

Proponents of the legalization of self-serve gasoline in New Jersey are using the big 23 cent gasoline tax hike recently imposed in the state on November 1, 2016 to push for an end to the legal ban on consumers pumping their own gas into their cars rather than wait for an attendant. According the a NJ Star-Ledger editorial, Paying tax on gas is bad enough. Don't make us pump it, lifting the ban would lower the gas price by five to seven cents per gallon.

As to the editorial, the Star-Ledger claims that the ban should remain because polls say so. It can no longer justify the ban for legitimate reasons, such as safety—not since 48 of the fifty states have ended their bans without any problems. It doesn’t even justify the ban on the rationalization that mandatory full “creates jobs.” Most people understand such jobs as a kind of featherbedding; i.e., welfare jobs. So, the Star-Ledger gives ridiculous reasons for keeping the ban. E.G.:

No way are we getting out of our cars to douse our hands with gasoline, smudge our pants, or shiver wretchedly in the chilly air. That's New York stuff, and frankly, uncivilized.

And:

All self-serve would do is add to our misery. The minority of people who want self-serve gas complain they don't have consumer choice, but think about how long the lines would become if gas stations reduced their full-service pumps.

They'd be like cash-only toll booths, forcing reluctant people into self-serve. We'd be made to feel guilty about paying the extra few cents. Then the stations might take away every full service pump, and we'd all have to stand out in the rain, in some dark and desolate area.

Uncivilized! Misery! And the idea self-serve would mean “long lines” is ridiculous. Self-serve is quicker, because you don’t have to sit around waiting for an attendant to get around to serving you. I know from experience.

This is someone who is out of ideas.

I would say that politicians dictating to gas station owners that the owners cannot decide for themselves whether to offer self-service to their customers is what’s uncivilized. If a private citizen were to march into a gas station, hold a gun to the owner’s head, and demand that he run his business as he sees fit, that citizen would be arrested and thrown in a cage. What gives Sweeney and the politicians the right to do what they as private citizens cannot do—namely, initiate force against that gas station owner? Until the government is subordinated to the same moral law as private citizens—that is, respect individual rights—we won’t have a fully decent and civilized society to live in.

I left these comments, edited for clarity:

“No way are we getting out of our cars. . .”

“The people of New Jersey want to be served by attendants at gas stations. . .”

Says who? Some polls? A bunch of politicians? So what? Nobody has a right to speak for “we”—for everyone else. Not even if you’re in the majority that claims it doesn’t want to pump gas (My wife is in the majority).

There is no public safety issue here, as with traffic laws. Full- versus self-serve should be between gas station and customer. If I want to get out of my car, handle my own credit card rather than hand it to a stranger, pump my own gas, and be on my way in half the time, I’ve hurt no one else, and should be able to do it if the gas station allows it. It should not be illegal. It’s none of the majority’s business. It’s none of Sweeney’s business.

I really don’t care about the difference in cost. I like the convenience, and should be free to choose it. But if self-serve is legalized and it turns out—and it probably will—that contrary to the polls the vast majority of the people choose the cheaper, self-serve option, and gas stations start cutting back on full-serve, so be it. That’s the market—the voluntary choices of consumers. But even in regards to the market, things work out. I travel a lot in neighboring states. In most stations, an attendant is available to serve if the customer needs it. In most such cases, other customers are more than willing to help these consumers.

Of course, if self-serve is legalized, I’ll probably have to start filling up my wife’s car in addition to my own. But, then, that’s my problem. I still say, legalize self-serve gas in New Jersey. The state has no legitimate business banning it.

3 comments:

'Of course, if self-serve is legalized, I’ll probably have to start filling up my wife’s car in addition to my own.'

We live in Missouri and although full serve is rare, there are still enough full-serve places for my wife to fill up. Somehow she finds them. There are also a few stations which have both.

BTW, you implied that all the states once banned self serve. Are you sure? I've lived in Missouri for 19 years over which self serve has never been banned, so if there was a ban it must have been lifted a long time ago.

The southern states had self serve WAY before 19 yrs. ago, maybe more than 50 yrs. ago. Maybe some of the other states banned it in the past. What reason would anybody care to research it. It don't matter to me. Gee whiz.

About Me

Greetings and welcome to my blog. My name is Michael A. (Mike) LaFerrara. I sometimes use the pen or "screen" name "Mike Zemack" or "Zemack" in online activism, such as posted comments on articles. “Zemack” stands for the first letters of the names of my six grandchildren. I was born in 1949 in New Jersey, U.S.A., where I retired from a career in the plumbing, building controls, and construction industries, and still reside with my wife of 45 years. The purpose of my blog is the discussion of a wide range of topics relating to human events from the perspective of Objectivism, the philosophy of reason, rational self-interest, and Americanism originated by Ayn Rand.

As Rand observed: “The professional intellectual is the field agent of the army whose commander-in-chief is the philosopher.” I am certainly not the philosopher. But neither am I a field agent, or general. I am a foot soldier in that Objectivist army that fights for an individualist society in which every person can live in dignified sovereignty, by his own reasoned judgment, for his own sake, in that state of peaceful coexistence with his fellow man that only capitalist political and economic freedom can provide. While I am a fully committed Objectivist, my opinions are based on my own understanding of Objectivism, and should not be taken as definitive “Objectivist positions.” For the full story of my journey toward Objectivism, see my Introduction.

One final introductory note: I strongly recommend Philosophy, Who Needs it, which highlights the inescapable importance of philosophy in every individual's life. I can be reached at mal.atlas@comcast.net. Thanks, Mike LaFerrara.

Recommended Essays/Videos

Quotes I Like

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.—Francisco d'Anconia

I love getting older...I get to grow up and learn things. Madalyn, 5 years old, Montesorri student, and my grand-daughter

The best thing one can do for the poor is to not become one of them. Author Unknown

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. Francis Bacon

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Ronald Reagan

Thinking is hard work. If it weren't, more people would do it. Henry Ford

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. Ayn Rand